Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. So here's the laceis
Speaker 1: this morning, the President threatening House Republicans taking a stand
Speaker 1: against this tariff agenda, the President posting on truth Social
Speaker 1: there will be consequences after six GOP lawmakers cross party
Speaker 1: lines to reboot the president's levies on Canada. The Republican
Speaker 1: Congressman French Hill voting against the measure to overwrite President
Speaker 1: Trump's tariff and he joined us now for more. Congressman Heill,
Speaker 1: welcome to the program sir. Your reaction to what happened
Speaker 1: on the Hill yesterday and why you voted the way
Speaker 1: you did.
Speaker 2: Well, Good morning, Jonathan.
Speaker 3: Look, I think we should handle the tariff discussion in
Speaker 3: a more comprehensive way and not take votes every week
Speaker 3: on the floor that turns the House floor over to
Speaker 3: the Democratic Party. That's why I believe that standing with
Speaker 3: the Speaker Mike Johnson on this maintains Republican control of
Speaker 3: the floor. So this is a very important strategic issue
Speaker 3: in a parliamentary body like Congress with a very narrow majority.
Speaker 3: What we should be doing about trade is urging the
Speaker 3: President to renew USMCA with Canada and Mexico, which is
Speaker 3: under review for its five year review this summer. It's
Speaker 3: a very important trade arrangement for the three countries. Progress
Speaker 3: is being made in working with the Canadians and the Mexicans.
Speaker 2: So that's number one.
Speaker 3: Not to be connected in my judgment to the vote
Speaker 3: last night, which is did the President have the right
Speaker 3: to put tariffs on Canada under IEPA because of the
Speaker 3: fentanyl matter?
Speaker 2: You get my point.
Speaker 3: Let's stick with the big picture here, which is growing
Speaker 3: America's exports, growing America's influence, using tariffs as a tool
Speaker 3: to change trade behavior of other nations. Number one on
Speaker 3: that list, of course, is China.
Speaker 1: Congressman, you mentioned USMCA. I've seen down in Washington. I'm
Speaker 1: sure you're familiar with the work at josh Wen Grows
Speaker 1: wrote just yesterday that the President is privately amusing about
Speaker 1: exiting the North American Trade pack. That accordings people familiar
Speaker 1: with the matter. When you read a story like that,
Speaker 1: do you just consider that part of the negotiation for
Speaker 1: the upcoming negotiations or does that concern you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I do because of the way President Trump
Speaker 3: is responsible for dramatically improving the North American Free Trade
Speaker 3: Agreement from the nineteen ninety two nineteen ninety three timeframe
Speaker 3: in creating USMCA in his first term, and it worked
Speaker 3: quite well.
Speaker 2: But there's more to.
Speaker 3: Be done on Canadians on dairy or Canadians on softwood lumber,
Speaker 3: or how the automotive business works back and forth between
Speaker 3: the two countries.
Speaker 2: We're now the role of it.
Speaker 3: We live in an ever changing economy with ever changing priorities.
Speaker 3: But let's face the reality that thirty percent of GDP
Speaker 3: in my home state of Arkansas is connected to cross
Speaker 3: border trade with Mexico and Canada.
Speaker 2: So the agreement is important.
Speaker 3: And it's also important for you to note in that
Speaker 3: comment that President Trump has you know, does not impose
Speaker 3: additional tariffs on USMCA compliant goods, So we are living
Speaker 3: by the agreement.
Speaker 4: Congress, there's a trade off here, and I think a
Speaker 4: lot of people would be sympathetic with the idea of
Speaker 4: trying to get certain trade partners to change behaviors and
Speaker 4: thinking particularly of China. On the other hand, there's a
Speaker 4: real affordability crisis, and this is a real issue for
Speaker 4: a whole host of representatives who are coming up for
Speaker 4: election later later this year. I just wonder how much
Speaker 4: influence you think that Republicans on the Hill have over
Speaker 4: President Trump's negotiations around tariffs to potentially either abstain from
Speaker 4: putting additional ones on or rolling some of the existing
Speaker 4: ones back.
Speaker 2: Well, what you've.
Speaker 3: Seen him do is fine tune the efforts with individual
Speaker 3: countries or regions like the EU, UK, Japan, for example.
Speaker 2: I want to.
Speaker 3: See the consolidate the wins from those agreements that he
Speaker 3: has done over this first year in the first place. Secondly,
Speaker 3: you've seen him roll back some tariffs on commodities that
Speaker 3: we don't make here in the United States, but we
Speaker 3: need to use, whether it's a fruit or vegetable or
Speaker 3: a coffee for example.
Speaker 2: Now I think that makes sense.
Speaker 3: You don't want to burden the consumer as you're attempting
Speaker 3: to change trade policies in other countries or compel them
Speaker 3: to follow Americans lead on something like transnational drug cartel,
Speaker 3: countering those drug cartels.
Speaker 2: But on the affordability side least.
Speaker 3: I think the most important thing we can do is
Speaker 3: stay focused on the supply side. The one big, beautiful
Speaker 3: bill last year signed in a law by President Trump
Speaker 3: will see real wage increases this year for American families
Speaker 3: in Arkansas, we expect some ten thousand dollars in benefit
Speaker 3: to a family of four from the increased child tax credit,
Speaker 3: the lower taxes on tips, the use of the standard deduction,
Speaker 3: lower taxes on seniors, social Security, so on that supply side,
Speaker 3: combined with what we're doing on regulations and the proposal
Speaker 3: I made for housing in the twenty first Century Housing Act.
Speaker 3: We got three hundred and ninety votes on the House
Speaker 3: floor for that.
Speaker 4: This week, I personally would like to boost consumption by
Speaker 4: taking a flight to a number of places week. And
Speaker 4: I'm just wondering if TSA is going to be an operation.
Speaker 4: Is the government going to shut down tomorrow night, Congressman oh.
Speaker 2: Lisa, I hope not.
Speaker 3: I I just look, it was so hard on my
Speaker 3: TSA agency in Little Rock and up in the tower
Speaker 3: at lit Rock National Airport, the air traffic controllers. That
Speaker 3: was a bad forty two days. That's not how to
Speaker 3: run the government. President Trump has used Tom Holman as
Speaker 3: a leader to consolidate both ICE and CBB operations in Minneapolis.
Speaker 3: Bring transparency to the operations, streamline it, make sure the
Speaker 3: training is in place, make sure the operation is consistent
Speaker 3: with federal law, they're using body cams. Let's take that
Speaker 3: as the right direction and keep our government funded in
Speaker 3: homeland security so important to so many people.
Speaker 1: Congressman, it just fails Massy down in Washington. But you
Speaker 1: pointed out the housing for the twenty first Century Act.
Speaker 1: We can get things done. We can find support on
Speaker 1: both sides. Congressman, what was actually a chief down in
Speaker 1: Washington And how important is that to you?
Speaker 3: Well, it's very important, you know, Jonathan. On the properties,
Speaker 3: I've had to have conservative, center right policy on redirecting
Speaker 3: regulation and policy for people's investment opportunities, more crowdfunding, more
Speaker 3: public offerings, community banking, making community banking great again by
Speaker 3: lowering the regulatory burden on small banks that make sixty
Speaker 3: percent of the home loans in this country, and now
Speaker 3: twenty first century Housing.
Speaker 2: We got three hundred.
Speaker 3: Votes for those policies, as we did for our digital
Speaker 3: assets and crypto work last year. That shows that Republicans
Speaker 3: and Democrats when it comes to economic policy, can get
Speaker 3: on the same page and pass legislation that President Trump
Speaker 3: should sign into law that will make.
Speaker 2: People's lives better.
Speaker 3: Costs will be brought down, supply chain, supply side capital
Speaker 3: will advance, and community banking will thrive in this country,
Speaker 3: and those are all good things.
Speaker 1: Find a question, Congressman, I've got about twenty seconds. Are
Speaker 1: you happy you don't have to chair the House Judiciary
Speaker 1: Committee because that was wild today.
Speaker 3: Well, I had a pretty wild hearing last week with
Speaker 3: my ranking member and mister Bessett's testimony, so I know,
Speaker 3: I know wild, but it was.
Speaker 2: But that's what happens on KAPAINI.
Speaker 3: We bring the public and they're elected representatives together to
Speaker 3: try to find solutions, and they can get spicy sometimes.
Speaker 1: Congressman, appreciate your time. Thank you, sir, Congressman French Schill,
Speaker 1: Thank you, Sir Dan in Washington, d C.